Family remembers Navy sailor killed in Imperial Beach motorcycle crash

There are no words to describe the heartache Leslie and William Herr are feeling.

Two weeks ago, their son Max Herr was killed in a motorcycle crash at 13th Street and Donax Avenue in Imperial Beach.

Police said he was driving a Suzuki motorcycle when a Ford truck hit him in the middle of the intersection. His family said he was on his way for duty that morning.

Later that evening, two servicemembers told his family he was gone.

“Their words were the painful thing that we heard,” William Herr, Max’s father said.

Max Herr was a Petty Officer Second Class assigned to the Maritime Expeditionary Security Group One.

He served in the Navy with courage and honor for more than five years.  

“Every time when I see that uniform, when I come into his room and I'm really proud of who he is and who he became,” Herr said. “I would tell him that I am proud of him. He don't need to prove anything to me,” Leslie Herr, Max’s mother said.

Max Herr moved from Minnesota to San Diego to follow his duty and calling, but his love for his family never changed, that’s why his family said he carried a baby blanket with him to every deployment.

“With that blanket baby blanket he felt that his parents is always around him. For all those. Five, six years he served in the Navy, he had always have that baby blanket with him until the last moment he passed away,” Max Herr’s father said.

On the day he died, a group of servicemembers stopped by to pray and leave a memorial for him near the site of the crash.

Max Herr’s family said seeing them show so much love and support touched their hearts.

“It made me feel at rest knowing that he has so many people who care so much about him. Even though we are so far away and weren't able to make it that moment. It's good to know that he has good family in the Navy who cares and how much they love him,” Leslie said.

Max Herr’s remains are expected to arrive at Minneapolis International Airport this week.

He will be escorted back to his family by military personnel and laid to rest in a funeral service next Sunday.

Max Herr’s family said while they can no longer see him, his memory will forever live in their hearts.

“He is perfect in every way … he is just the way he is,” his mother said.

The truck driver involved in the crash stayed on scene with sheriff’s deputies. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.